The results
of the large-scale work of the staff of the Hirosaki University Graduate
Medical School were made public. The scientists compared the concentration of
vitamin C in the blood plasma of the participants in the experiment with
detailed MRI scans of their brains.
The scientific
journal PLOS ONE noted that subjects with a deficiency of this micronutrient
had significantly less gray matter. In addition, they had weaker neural
connections in the so-called passive mode network, which is responsible for
attention and autobiographical memory, writes RuNews24.
Even after
the researchers adjusted the data to take into account the age of the
volunteers, their level of education and physical activity, the correlation
remained. According to project co-author Tomohiro Shintaku, these findings
generate an "exciting hypothesis" that a diet rich in vitamin C may
play a key supporting role in maintaining brain health. The scientist
emphasizes that everyday eating habits can influence the structure of neural
networks in the long term.
The authors
of the work, however, urge not to rush to final conclusions: at the moment, the
study proves only a relationship, not a cause-and-effect relationship. To
definitively confirm this theory, larger and more diverse samples of volunteers
are required. Nevertheless, the very fact of identifying a subtle but
significant relationship between one nutrient and the architecture of the brain
opens up a new direction in gerontology.
